


You Deserve Peace

by origamigoose



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: A Lot of Death, Character Death, Kind of a Happy Ending, Other, Sad, Short, a little bit of taakitz, be warned, short fic, taakitz, the adventure zone podcast - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 18:38:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14677016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/origamigoose/pseuds/origamigoose
Summary: Snippets of Taakos life as he remembers it, before taking the final voyage.





	You Deserve Peace

      Between some soft rolling hills and a mirror like lake, there sits a house. A solitary house, surrounded by flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

      None of the outer walls of the house are the same color, and there’s no reason the inside would have any coherent color scheme either. To others it may look ghastly. But to Taako, it was the best place in this world.  
Taako sits, precariously perched on the arch of the roof. Looking into the sky, he still sometimes expects there to be a second sun. A quite tune plays from inside the house, drifting out the open windows. Something sweet, and old.  
      And although everything is quiet, he’s still on edge. Still tense. Waiting for those pillars of inky blackness to come back. Waiting to run, or to fight.  
      ‘A century on the run will do that to you.’ He thinks. But more than ever, since he left his planet over a century ago, he feels safest here.  
      A hushed breeze comes from his house, and he knows Kravitz is home.  
      Taako slides down the roof, into a small patch of soft green grass, and peers in through the window. An inhumanly tall dark skinned man stands by his record player. The man lifts the needle, and the song stops. He looks through the window that Taako is standing at, and smiles. Taako smiles back, before he hops through the window. Kravitz envelops Taako in a tight hug, lifting him from the ground for only a moment, before putting him back down.  
      He’s happy. And he is in love.

      But everything goes grey. And in the place of the quiet home is a bar.

      A small bar in Neverwinter with a reserved table for three brothers. He sits in his chair, it still has a wobbly leg and scratch marks all over the seat. But that’s Taakos favorite thing about this chair. It’s old.  
      Merle shows up shortly after, then Magnus comes in followed by Johann. Merle looks the same as ever. Still rough around the edges, wrinkles around the eyes. He has more of a sun-kissed tan now, however. And his smile lines have never been bigger. Magnus looks a little worse for wear. He’s getting older, and you can tell. His hair is graying, and his face has a few more wrinkles, but his eyes are as bright as ever.  
      The bar still smells like peanuts, and stale beer. It smells the same as the day the brothers found each other.  
      It’s on this day that Merle pulls Taako aside for a moment and whispers to him.  
      “I’ve found him. I’ve found Governor Kalen.”  
      It’s also on this day that the two of them fulfill a promise made so very long ago.

      And once again, everything is grey. As before, something takes its place.

      A young detective. Not young, anymore. A tenured teacher, teaching a class. Angus McDonald, the greatest detective in the world, and now the greatest teacher as well. Taako watches him through a cracked door. His heart swells with pride watching the boy he helped raise become an extraordinary. Magnus, Merle, and Kravitz are there as well. Waiting on his class to end so they can have lunch together. Like a family.

      Taako doesn't know it yet, but this is the last meal he’ll share with Magnus and Angus.  
      Two months later Magnus passes away blissfully. Kravitz tells him that Magnus is home.  
      Another two weeks and Angus gets caught up in a fight in Goldcliff, protecting a man from a mugger. He’s killed. Kravitz wishes he could tell him it was instant.  
      They don’t talk about them much anymore.

      And again, the scene changes.

      Taako is in his field ripping up flowers by the roots. He doesn't want to see life. He doesn't want to see anything growing. He wants to burn it.  
      Merle had finally passed. He lives so much longer than he expected. No one knows what happened, but what his family is saying is that he’s been forgetting. And one day he forgot where he was. They’re saying that he was wandering the beach, looking around and mummering to himself. Snatches of words caught here and there. He was saying ‘where’s the ship’ and ‘why are they all hiding’. He was brought back in that night, but he was gone in the morning. They found him in the water.  
      Taako destroys his flowers. Rips every single one out off the ground. He brings them to the ocean side. There’s a small patch of dirt that used to be sand by the ocean now, filled to the edges with flowers that never wilt.  
      He doesn't leave his house for days. Kravitz stays with him.  
      Then one night, when lying in bed with Kravitz beside him, he whispers oh so softly.  
      “Do they remember me.”  
      To which Kravitz responds, “They remember everything. Rest now, my love. It’s been so long, and you’ve done so much. You deserve peace. Lie still, and rest.”

      Taako opens his eyes. Their eyes have become dull with age, and his face has developed wrinkles that he used to dread. But in them now he sees the resemblance of his family.

      Taako has aged gracefully. Accepting his mortality as the resonant truth it is. All that is left in this world for him is his legacy. The legacy of the seven birds. A legacy that will never die, for as long as there are sentient beings, there will be stories told about his family.  
      His fields are flourishing with vibrant colors again, and there’s a light breeze wafting through the countryside. He is at peace.  
      He holds both of his hands out. In one hand is the hand of his soulmate. In the other is the hand of his sister. She looks no different than she had the day she disappeared. And behind him, with a hand on his shoulder, is the man who led him to the truth. Who withstood dying over, and over, and over, and over again to reunite his family.  
With a shuddering breath Taako speaks quietly.  
      “I’m ready.”

      And he’s young again. Sitting on the roof once more, with a light breeze in the air, and a soft tune being carried on the wind. Kravitz is on the roof as well, holding Taakos hand. Taako can breathe easy once again. He can let go, and exhale. There is nothing to run from. He is safe.


End file.
